Ara Gets His Irish Up Over Pouring It On

January 16, 1986|By Larry Guest of the Sentinel Staff

Stung by backlash from his on-air criticism of Jimmy Johnson's running up the score on Notre Dame, former Irish coach Ara Parseghian is defending his comments in a prepared statement he plans to send to selected media outlets next week. Parseghian, the principal speaker at Orlando's Downtown Athletic Club this week, reiterated his feelings that Johnson should have shown ''compassion'' for beleaguered coach Gerry Faust in that 58-7 Hurricane romp in the nationally televised regular-season finale. Parseghian said his research of the Miami-Notre Dame games when he coached at South Bend showed that Irish regulars played very little in the second halves of those Notre Dame runaways. After the UM coach was castigated on the telecast, a lot of us sage pundits allowed as how Ara, before giving Johnson the back of his hand, should review some of his Gold Dome winning scores (69-13 and 56-7 over Pitt, 64-0 over Duke, 56-6 over Iowa, 58-8 and 47-7 over Illinois, 62-3 and 48-0 over Army, etc.). ''High scores are not necessarily indicative of running up the score,'' says Ara, who used the example of his 38-7 victory over Miami in 1974. That game was 38-0 at the half and he used only reserves in the 7-0 Miami ''victory'' in the second half. ''I don't mind criticism, but I don't like being called a hypocrite,'' says Ara.

Little Bird Dept.: Neal Anderson (rest, studies) and Alonzo Johnson (bum knee) are dropouts from this week's Senior Bowl, leaving John L. Williams as the only Florida Gator to play in what has become the premier audition for the NFL. Anderson, a truly conscientious student, is skipping the minimum $2,000 Senior Bowl payment because he had two important tests this week. The Gator running back takes special pride in his plan to graduate in May on the normal 4-year timetable, something few players at big-time football schools accomplish nowadays. . . . Cowboys' Michael Downs, explaining why he was not terminally distraught after lopsided Dallas losses to Bengals and Bears: ''Hey, I played at Rice.'' . . . Bumper Snicker spotted in Miami airport: ''Good Girls Go To Heaven; Bad Girls Go Everywhere.'' . . . D.C. business magazine figures Georgetown University profited to the tune of $12 million -- TV revenue, additional ticket sales, etc. -- from the four-year presence of Patrick Ewing. . . . Richard Petty, ageless stocker, on retirement timing: ''You always want to quit when you're on top, but when you're on top you don't want to quit.'' . . . Al McGuire, disagreeing with an official's call: ''But I've been wrong before. I thought Mickey Rooney would be a bachelor.'' . . . Ain't It So, Dept.: Commenting on his brief boxing career, Ed ''Too Tall'' Jones says, ''I've never been around so many crummy people in my life.''

Dodgers pitching phenom Orel Hershiser is a good candidate to become the next player to win a million-dollar contract through arbitration. Robert Fraley, the Orlando lawyer who represents Orel, sees little hope in reaching contract accord with the Dodgers before the scheduled Feb. 20 arbitration hearing. Fraley is seeking a seven-figure salary, and the Dodgers' offer is in the $500,000 to $600,000 neighborhood for Hershiser, who was paid $212,000 last year for a 19-3, 2.03 ERA season. . . . Although Lou Holtz insists he'll bridle his funnyman act at Noble Dame, he couldn't resist making a point about unusual techniques by relating a story about the blind man and his seeing-eye dog crossing the street. Seems the dog led the man across the street against the light, causing several cars to swerve and screech to a halt narrowly missing the pair. After miraculously reaching the far curb, the man offered the animal a biscuit. ''How could you possibly reward the dog,'' inquired a bystander, ''after he almost got you killed?'' Replied the blind man: ''I'm not rewarding him. I'm trying to determine where his head is so I can kick his butt.''

MY NEIGHBOR WOLFGANG, too cheap to buy a watchdog, instead sez he taught his kids how to bark.